In political advocacy, as in statecraft, purity is a luxury an effective practitioner cannot afford.

The tea party's aggressive push for ideological purity has yielded a GOP at war with itself and incapable of governing. Destructive stunts like the $24 billion federal shutdown championed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have strengthened Democrats' chances of retaining control of the Senate, while primary challenges to Republican incumbents from the right in red states promise an influx of new bomb throwers in the upper chamber come 2015. This will accelerate the GOP's decline as a national party.

The LGBT left often pursues its own ideological purity, as if right-mindedness were self-implementing, and as if punishing imperfect allies magically produced better and winning candidates. Advancing policy goals in a diverse society requires overcoming differences. The "easy gets" are already with us; we need imagination and perseverance, not rage nor a sense of inevitability.

Some on the left insist that there should be no government secrets. They are living in Never Never Land. The foreign governments condemning American surveillance are merely envious. (Espionage, after all, is a French word.) There is a big difference between combating excessive secrecy and abolishing secrecy altogether. With a need for some secrecy in a dangerous world, declassification cannot be decided by an Edward Snowden. Absolute opposition to any and all secrecy relegates advocates to the margins.

Anti-war activists in their purity often ignore the prophet Jeremiah's "Men cry 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace." Barack Obama takes a more pragmatic view, as shown in October 2002 when he said, "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars." As president, he has been rather hawkish. His recent threat to attack Syria, which I criticized, led to a diplomatic opening and the supervised destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, now underway. The drone strike that killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud last Friday was a blunt answer to Dick Cheney's sniping claim that "our adversaries out there no longer fear us." To be sure, dead adversaries no longer fear anything.

The pacifists will decry the president's comment, reported by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann in their new book, Double Down, "I'm really good at killing people." But Obama did not campaign for his Nobel Peace Prize as Jimmy Carter did. And he has shown flexibility that George W. Bush did not. He has ended, prevented and limited wars, whereas his 2008 opponent, John McCain, was bullish on new invasions. Obama has the same cool temperament that served President Kennedy well during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when one wrong move could have incinerated the world. Obama is no Dennis Kucinich, but has proved a sober and resolute commander in chief.

His Former Holiness Benedict XVI was bent on enforcing doctrinal purity within the Catholic Church even as its membership in the West shrank and his bishops' scolding letters were read to increasingly empty pews. The bishops' refusal to respect church-state separation, as seen in their relentless efforts to make the civil law conform to Catholic doctrine on abortion and homosexuality, implies a different America than the one they inhabit. They appear convinced that an American theocracy would somehow be cut to their measure despite their minority status.

But Benedict is retired. Last week, the Roman church under Pope Francis did something almost unheard of: It sought the opinions of the laity. Instead of just another lecture, the leader of a 2,000-year-old organization that claims a divine mandate is choosing consultation.

If Francis can deal with the fact that his followers are not sheep but humans able to think for themselves, those with no hereditary hotline to heaven can learn from his humility. None of us has all the answers.

Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist. He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net.

About five years into Barack Obama's socialistic — or fascistic, depending on which side of the bed congressional Republicans woke up on this morning — reign of terror imposing homosexuality on the good people of America, we have enough evidence to see what bacchanalian horrors have been wreaked upon our nation.

So far we've had a bunch of really fancy weddings; a competition between gays and lesbians to see who can come up with the most ridiculously charming and over-the-top marriage proposals; same-sex spouses enjoying shopping privileges on military bases; and various gay and lesbian servicemembers flooding Facebook with out-and-proud status updates.

This isn't exactly the End Times I learned about at vacation Bible school.

It's not the best time to be heading up the Chicken Little branch of anti-gay zealotry. After decades of dire warnings of the collapse of civilization when same-sex couples received marriage licenses, the most alarming thing we've seen is the sheer number of items those couples put on their Pottery Barn registries.

We were told by hate-spewing harridans like Elaine Donnelly that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell would trigger a mass exodus of heterosexual soldiers from the military, leaving behind a skeleton crew of homosexuals too busy throwing orgies to protect our nation.

Last I checked, the Army, Navy, Air Force and even the Marines were still intact and doing their jobs. I have no firsthand knowledge, but given that I've received no Facebook invitations to a barracks orgy I have to assume that the latter hasn't come to pass either.

So America's anti-gay contingent finds itself in the uncomfortable position of going to war with the apocalypse they got, not the one they think we deserve.

That's why the current debate over ENDA feels rather dry and anticlimactic now that we're serving openly in the military and getting married in droves. I'm not saying the fight isn't worthwhile — the freedom to work is just as integral to our full equality as is our freedom to serve and to marry. I am saying that the philosophical battle has been won as Republican leaders who technically oppose it are increasingly pantomiming arguments to placate a shrill and shrinking base.

Of course, the level of hatred and doomsaying once directed at gays and lesbians won't disappear, it'll just find a new target. More specifically, it will target transgender people. We've always had to deal with the social-conservative ''bathroom brigade,'' the deep-seated fear that masses of burly men are awaiting the moment they can legally throw on a skirt and harass women in public restrooms. That brigade is only going to get louder.

As with their anti-gay arguments, their anti-trans arguments are built on lies and stoked on fears. But the ones who should really be afraid aren't social conservatives, but transgender people, especially the young. Anti-trans activists have long been willing lie; right now in Colorado they're taking it a step further by simply making up stories of bathroom ''harassment'' and actively destroying the life of a 16-year-old trans girl.

The argument over ENDA may feel like we're at the end of a long road, but for many of us there's still a long way to go.

Sean Bugg is the editor emeritus of Metro Weekly. He can be reached at seanbugg@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @seanbugg.

Just hours after Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Mathews, Accomack, Northampton counties) declared victory in the race for lieutenant governor of Virginia Tuesday night, three Democratic hopefuls affirmed their candidacies for his state Senate seat, in the hope of not only replacing Northam, but gaining Democratic control over the state's upper chamber.

Because Virginia Senate races are held every four years instead of every two, the Senate will remain divided 20-20 until Northam takes office in January. Depending on the outcome of the attorney general's race, the results of which are being recounted before provisional ballots are tallied, another Senate seat may open up.

If Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg, Rockingham, Rappahannock, Page, Warren, Shenandoah counties) holds on to his current lead, when he vacates his seat the Senate will remain divided 19-19, with Northam acting as a tiebreaking vote. If Sen. Mark Herring (D-Loudoun, Fairfax counties) overtakes Obenshain, then Republicans will – at least temporarily – retain control of the Senate by a 20-18 margin, giving them the power to make committee assignments.

In any event, newly elected Gov. Terry McAuliffe will set a date for special elections to replace the departing senators, and each party will determine when to hold a primary or caucus to select nominees.

The three Democrats seeking to replace Northam are state Del. Lynwood Lewis (D-Norfolk, Accomack, Northampton counties), former state Del. Paula Miller (D-Norfolk) and Andria McClellan, a sales and marketing executive who was appointed chair of the Small Business Advisory Board by former Gov. Mark Warner (D) and who recently served as Northam's campaign treasurer in his campaign for the state's No. 2 spot. The winner of that Democratic contest will face either Wayne Coleman the CEO of transportation, shipping and freight giant CV International Inc., or Richard Ottinger, a lawyer who specializes in commercial litigation. Other candidates may also jump in, but have not yet filed paperwork with state election officials.

With control of the Senate in play, the election to replace Northam will likely be one of the more expensive races for a state Senate seat in recent years. Even though President Obama won the district with 57 percent of the vote in 2012, Democrats have often struggled to turn out supporters in special elections.

Regardless, LGBT Virginians can take comfort in Gov.-elect McAuliffe's promise to sign an executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But progress on a more permanent statute prohibiting such discrimination, or any attempt to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment prohibiting recognition of same-sex relationships, will depend on the General Assembly.

Of the announced special-election candidates, only McClellan has touted her support for LGBT equality, saying she supports marriage equality, adoption by gay couples, allowing same-sex partners to make medical decisions for one another, and employment nondiscrimination legislation. Miller and Lewis have previously sponsored nondiscrimination legislation during their time in the Legislature, although both voted to place the discriminatory Marshall-Newman Amendment on the ballot in 2006.

''It is critical that we elect a strong Democrat who will defend a woman's right to choose, create a more equal society for all Virginians, empower teachers, and build a better, safer Virginia for the next generation,'' McClellan said in a press release announcing her candidacy. ''I am running to continue the legacy of advocacy and common sense solutions for which my good friend Lt. Governor-elect Ralph Northam is known.''

In contrast, Coleman's campaign website touts his support for ''traditional marriage.'' Ottinger does not have a website, but donated to the attorney general campaigns of Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Obenshain, in 2009 and 2013, respectively, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.

Additionally, if Obenshain wins the attorney general race, his Senate seat remains reliably Republican. But a Herring victory could put a Northern Virginia swing seat in play, thereby placing Democrats on defense with two seats.

If Herring is victorious, one option for Democrats to try to hold the seat could be Jennifer Boysko, an LGBT-rights supporter who lost to Del. Tom Rust by 56 votes on Tuesday in a House district that overlaps part of Herring's Senate district – provided the results of that race are not reversed by any outstanding provisional ballots. But any Democratic candidate would likely struggle to find traction in the Loudoun County part of the district, as there are no Democrats, besides Herring, representing the area in the General Assembly or on the county Board of Supervisors.

James Parrish, the executive director of Equality Virginia told Metro Weekly in an interview Thursday that the LGBT-rights organization would continue to advocate on behalf of pro-LGBT candidates and noted that any of the three Democrats running to replace Northam would likely be a positive for the community.

''It's very clear that the Senate has been the body who understands where the Virginia public is on LGBT issues, even getting bipartisan support for LGBT rights measures,'' Parrish said. ''It's the House of Delegates that has continued to be a roadblock.''

Parrish added that the group's political action committee, EVPAC, has not made any endorsements yet, but will likely endorse the candidate most likely to continue the Senate tradition of promoting LGBT progress.

''EVPAC will be making every effort to make sure the Senate stays in the control of people who are on the side of the majority of Virginians and the business community,'' he said. ''We congratulate Sen. Northam on his win, and believe Sen. Mark Herring will prevail in the Attorney General's race, and will make sure that the two people who replace them are worthy of the support of the LGBT community.''

Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery Co.), seeking to become Maryland's governor – which could give the state its first female governor and the country its first out lesbian governor – has earned the endorsement of Progressive Neighbors, a liberal-leaning grassroots political organization that promotes progressive candidates and causes, such as universal health care, a living wage and campaign-finance reforms.

At this stage, Mizeur is running to win the Democratic nomination in the gubernatorial race. She's competing for that party nod against Attorney General Doug Gansler and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. Mizeur won the endorsement of the Takoma Park-based group based on her record since being elected to the House of Delegates in 2006, and on her responses to a Progressive Neighbors questionnaire. According to a statement released by Progressive Neighbors, both Mizeur and Gansler provided ''extensive, thoughtful responses'' to those questionnaires, though Brown declined to submit a questionnaire despite repeated invitations to do so.

The organization noted that the members of the subcommittee reviewing the candidates' responses were unanimous in selecting Mizeur, whom they called ''an accomplished legislator, able to reach across the aisle and bring ideological opponents together in pursuit of common interests.''

''Progressive Neighbors is proud to endorse Delegate Heather Mizeur in her campaign to become the next Governor of Maryland because she is the most progressive candidate in the race,'' reads the organization's statement announcing the endorsement. ''We are a growing organizations proudly advocating a progressive agenda for Maryland and Montgomery County and believe Delegate Mizeur is best qualified to be the Governor to make our progressive future a reality.''

The Maryland gubernatorial election is set for Nov. 4, 2014.

The two executive committee officers running for re-election to lead the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the District's largest LGBT political organization, have announced three newcomers who will run as part of their candidate slate in this month's elections to lead the club in 2014.

Incumbents Angela Peoples, vice president for political and legislative affairs, and Martin Garcia, club president, announced last month they would run for the other's seat on the executive committee. The newly announced candidates on their slate are Diana Bui, Bobbi Strang and Terrance Laney.

Bui, a poet involved in social justice movements and progressive politics, will run for vice president of administration. That seat is now held by outgoing incumbent, Vincent Villano. Bui is co-chair of the D.C. chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and as membership and chapter coordinator for the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, where she does immigration-advocacy work.

Strang, a local activist with the DC Trans Coalition (DCTC), Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) and The DC Center, is running for secretary to replace outgoing incumbent Jimmie Luthuli. Strang previously worked in the District's Office of Latino Affairs and is the first openly transgender person to work at the Department of Employment Services.

Laney, a community organizer who served as special assistant to the CEO at the National Black Justice Coalition and who worked on the campaign to legalize marriage equality in Rhode Island, is running for treasurer, replacing the outgoing Barrie Daneker.

''I could not be happier with the talent and experience represented on our slate,'' Peoples said in a press release announcing the candidates. ''The club's membership is full of diverse backgrounds and perspectives; Diana, Terrance and Bobbi are a tribute to that diversity. 2014 is going to be a big year for the District and for the club. I'm confident we will be able to hit the ground running with this outstanding group.''

''I have been very impressed with the work of the Stein Club and current Executive Committee's leadership,'' Bui said in a statement. ''I am excited to get involved and connect my labor work and work with the DC Asian Pacific American community with Stein Club.''

Most of the slate, so far, is running unopposed, though Peoples will face off against longtime Stein member and local transgender activist Jeri Hughes, who announced her candidacy for the club's presidency last week. Hughes said she is not running as part of a slate.

''As far as I know, Stein is a democratic club, so anyone can run,'' Hughes told Metro Weekly. ''I hadn't even heard of a slate until last year,'' she said, referencing the executive committee elections that pitted then-President Lateefah Williams and two of her allies against the slate of Garcia, Peoples and Villano.

The executive committee elections will be held on Monday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. in Room 123 of the Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

The D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) has amended its policy to permit transgender female inmates to shave, even when other inmates may not be permitted to use razors themselves, according to a memo issued by Thomas Faust, director of DOC.

The ruling comes after an inmate was injured in a suicide attempt with a razor at the D.C. Jail, according to transgender activist Jeri Hughes. As a result, Faust stated that the jail did not have a system in place to control the use of disposable razors and suspended shaving privileges for all inmates,  including transgender females, until a system could be put in place. 

''Not being able to shave can be pretty traumatic for some of these girls,'' Hughes said.

Last month, the Transgender Advisory Committee, a board that provides guidance to DOC to ensure it is compliant with the District's Human Rights Act as it pertains to equal treatment of transgender inmates, raised the issue to Faust. Hughes said Faust told the advisory committee he would resolve it within two weeks. He implemented a change in the policy within a week, which took effect Nov. 4. He then followed up on that policy change by signing a memo Nov. 7 to make the changes a matter of record.

According to the memo, once a transgender inmate is identified, a case manager will interview the inmate to ask if she is interested in receiving shaving services. The case manager will keep a record of the inmate's decision, and if the inmate accepts, she will sign a consent form.

To take advantage of the shaving services, which are offered on Monday and Friday of every week, the transgender inmates who agree will be taken to the female receiving and discharge area, where they will be allowed to shave. Administrators will also check to see that the services are being received and that each inmate has signed the appropriate consent form. Transgender inmates will also be given the opportunity to purchase Magic Shave, a shaving cream that dissolves facial hair. These services will be available to transgender inmates, even if the rest of the jail's population is not permitted to access shaving services.

According to Hughes, the ability to shave is very important to transgender inmates, many of whom choose to be housed with the male population instead of the female population. Hughes says some female transgender inmates have felt uncomfortable or unsafe when housed with other female inmates.

''DOC is trying very hard to comply with the DC Human Rights Act,'' Hughes said. ''Director Faust has been trying very hard. He gave me a date when this policy would be implemented, and he followed through with it more than a week early.''

[EDITOR'S NOTE: As originally reported, this story incorrectly reported that the change in protocol stemmed from an altercation between inmates rather than a suicide atttempt.] 

Whitman-Walker Health, the nonprofit community health center specializing in HIV/AIDS and LGBT-sensitive health care, was recognized Nov. 8 as a Federally Qualified Health Center by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), enabling it to receive a funding grant to support services provided at Whitman-Walker's two health centers, in D.C.'s Logan Circle and Anacostia neighborhoods.

The award is given as part of the federal government's efforts to expand access to primary health care under the Affordable Care Act. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last week that $150 million would be given to 236 health centers to help provide services to more than 1.25 million additional patients. Whitman-Walker is the only health center in the D.C. metropolitan area to receive such a grant.

The designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) is given to community-based organizations that provide comprehensive primary and preventative care, including oral health, mental health or substance abuse services to patients regardless of their ability to pay or health insurance status.

''Our mission is to provide the highest quality, culturally competent care to Washington's diverse urban community including those who face barriers to accessing care and with special expertise in LGBT and HIV care, '' Adam Falcone, chair of the board of directors of Whitman-Walker Health, said in a statement. ''This award will further our health center's ongoing efforts to care for our community in a post-health care reform world.''

Whitman-Walker's designation as an FQHC comes after an eight-year-long transition, as initiated by the board of directors, from an AIDS service organization to a primary health care center serving the needs of vulnerable populations, including those living with HIV/AIDS and the LGBT community. In January 2007, Whitman-Walker Health received its initial designation as a federally qualified health center-lookalike entity, qualifying it for higher Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. The health center has recertified this designation every year since 2008.

''Throughout this nearly decade-long health center transition, our patients have been first and foremost in our words and actions,'' Don Blanchon, the CEO of Whitman-Walker, said in a statement. ''With this funding, Whitman-Walker will have more resources to help our patients actively engage in their health care and improve the overall health of our community.''

PS4 Killzone

With two new consoles launching this holiday season, it can be difficult to choose which is more deserving of your hard-earned dollars. Each has a unique lineup of exclusive games, and both offer a multitude of entertainment options and ways to keep you hooked long after you've stopped playing. When it comes to actual gaming experiences, however, both Microsoft and Sony have a rather lackluster initial offering. The meatiest portions of both consoles' exclusive games won't be available until next year, but there's still plenty to tempt gamers of all creeds when each device hits stores this November.

PlayStation 4

Sony PS4

Sony has a relative dearth of first-party launch titles. While there are reportedly more than 180 games in development for PS4, at launch users will need to turn to third-party games in order to get their initial fix. There are, however, a few standout exclusives that should help satiate anyone picking up Sony's console as soon as it lands on the shelves.

Killzone Shadow Fall: This is Sony's big one. The Killzone franchise has blossomed from a weak Halo-rival on PS2 into one of Sony's largest assets. The sixth installment in the series places gamers 30 years after the events of Killzone 3, with the war on planet Helghast still raging. Refugees from the planet are allowed to settle on Vekta, where a cold war between the refugees and the native Vektans quickly ensues -- complete with a city divided by a large security wall. Sound familiar? Expect intense single-player battles, frenetic multiplayer matches and the gorgeous visuals Killzone is renowned for.

Resogun: A top-down, side-scrolling shoot 'em up, Resogun is the PS4's answer to the hugely popular Super Stardust HD on PS3, with its fast-paced action, beautiful graphics and tight controls. An added bonus: PlayStation Plus members will get the game free at launch.

PS4 Knack

Knack: Created by PlayStation's lead architect Mark Cerny, Knack is as much a technical demonstration of the PS4's power as it is a fun action platformer. Gamers play as Knack, who discovers that he has the power to attract ice, metal and other substances to his body, giving him special abilities -- such as expanding his frame from 3-feet tall into a building-crushing giant. It looks like whimsical-yet-involving fun, and should be an interesting addition to the PS4's lineup.

Warframe: Unique for one reason, Warframe is otherwise a standard cooperative third-person shooter. Four players work together to eliminate enemies and complete objectives while wearing a battlesuit, aka the Warframe. Levels are procedurally generated, so no two game sessions will be alike, and combat promises to be fast-paced, frenetic and rewarding. The best part, which also makes it unique? It's completely free-to-play.

PS4 The Playroom

The Playroom: Okay, I'm taking a liberty here, as The Playroom isn't explicitly a game. It's a free application, bundled with the PS4, which uses augmented reality and the PlayStation Camera in a series of mini-games. If it sounds fairly dull, take heed -- everyone who has explored The Playroom has been blown away by the tactility and reality-bending nature of what's on offer. It's a technical demonstration that could end up being one of the PS4's most addicting features. And a perfect way to show off Sony's approach to motion gaming to your friends.

Xbox One

Xbox One with Kinect

Microsoft arguably has a stronger initial lineup of games, with more first-party and exclusive third-party titles at launch. But that's not to say it's exhaustive. Gamers will still need multi-platform titles like Call of Duty: Ghostsand Battlefield 4, also available on the PS4 at launch, to flesh out their collections in the run up to the holidays.

Dead Rising 3: Zombies are still very du jour, and with Capcom's Dead Rising 3 gamers have yet another way to smash, bash and drive over the undead. Set in a world larger than the first two games combined, and able to render three-times as many zombies than its predecessors, it should give fans of the series even more to sink their teeth -- or baseball bats -- into at launch.

XBOX Dead Rising

Crimson Dragon: If you played Panzer Dragoon in the '90s, you'll know what you're getting into with Crimson Dragon. An on-rails shooter, it takes place on a planet inhabited by dragons, which humans have managed to tame and ride, using them to battle other dragons and creatures. It should offer nostalgia and action in equal doses.

Killer Instinct: A modern reboot of the much-loved '90s series -- noticing a trend here? -- Killer Instinct sees a return to the traditional combo-based gameplay of Street Fighter mixed with the finishing moves of Mortal Kombat. With six characters at launch, a story mode set after the events of Killer Instinct 2, and multiplayer battles, it should prove a worthy download. Need your deal sweetened? Check the email associated with your Live account -- Microsoft is sending codes for free copies of the game to loyal fans of Xbox.

Xbox Ryse

Ryse: Son of Rome: Originally an Xbox 360 game, Ryse has been reinvented as an Xbox One launch title -- and seems all the better for it. Players control Marius Titus, a Roman general, and follow his life from early childhood to leading the Roman Army. Players control Marius with the controller, and can issue orders to his legion with Kinect voice commands. Featuring gorgeous graphics, a deep story mode and a gladiator arena setting for multiplayer combat, Ryse could prove a standout title for launch.

Xbox Forza

Forza Motorsport 5 -- It used to be that Sony's Gran Turismo was the go-to title for racing simulation, but with each new release it seems like Microsoft's Forza is the game of choice for racing fans. Forza 5 ships with 200 cars, 50 manufacturers, 14 circuits and incredible next-gen visuals that add a whole new layer of realism. McLaren's P1 supercar is the poster child this time around, and it looks beautiful racing around Forza's detailed circuits.

Multi-Platform

Sadly, neither console offers a huge variety of exclusive titles to tempt gamers at launch. Worry not, though. Your $399 PS4 and $499 Xbox One will both be augmented with a multitude of great third-party games, including Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, NBA 2K14, Need for Speed: Rivals,Madden NFL 25 and, of course, Just Dance 2014, all available at launch.

Whichever console you pick up this holiday season, both should guarantee an immersive, impeccably detailed, incredibly fun way to game for the next few years. Whether PlayStation or Xbox, you really can't go wrong. Unless you get the Wii U, of course -- but you've only got yourself to blame if you do.

"The Walking Dead, that game broke me."

Aisha Tyler is sitting in a cramped, cluttered side room within the Ubisoft encampment at E3, the video game industry's massive annual expo, talking about a game that took her emotions by complete and utter surprise.

Aisha Tyler

(Photo by Robert Adam Mayer)

"It's funny because people were online saying, 'Get ready to feel stuff,' and I was like, 'Pfft, I don't feel stuff, I'm dead inside.' My husband was one chapter ahead of me -- he was visibly upset and I was like, 'You need help.' We were both playing side by side [on our iPads] in bed, and he looked over, and I was just crying hysterically. He said, 'You just finished the game.' The gameplay was really, really simple, but it was really, really affecting. I think it goes to show with rich, complex narrative, even limited gameplay can be really enjoyable."

Tyler is well-known as an avid gamer -- so much so that game publishing giant Ubisoft tapped the 43-year-old to host its major press conference at this year's E3, held last June. The comedian's life has gotten to the point where she's so incredibly busy with so many varied things, she barely has the time to play games as immersively and completely as she once did. She's a panelist on CBS's daily gabfest, The Talk; her second book, Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation released in July; she's hosting the revitalized improv comedy show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?; and she helms Girl on Guy, "a podcast about stuff guys love, brought to you by the ultimate guy's girl."

And then, of course, there's Archer. Tyler voices Lana Kane, the only competent employee in the Isis canon of drinking, cursing, sex-minded secret agents. Lana is the hit show's voice of reason, and Tyler's delivery is laced with a delicious cynicism and exasperation at the antics of her former beau, Archer, and her bungling, self-absorbed colleagues. "Smart, occasionally filthy, thoughtful stuff for grownups," is how she describes Archer. "That's what we're most proud of -- that it's a smart, really, really dirty show for adults. We just recorded Episode 1 of Season 5 and this is going to be a bananas season. Bananas, bananas. Everyone's losing their mind."

On this day, however, Tyler is of sound mind and glad to give over a bit of her time to discuss her passion for gaming, a passion that formed at a young age. She loves shooters and especially loves one form of gameplay above all else: cooperative play.

"Cooperative play is the best," exclaims Tyler with the kind of enthusiasm generally reserved for announcing the birth of one's firstborn. "The first game I played cooperatively was Rainbow Six Vegas. It was the first game that was real for me -- real, strategic cooperative play. We were making plans in real time. It's one thing to play side-by-side and it's another thing to have really rich cooperative play where you're enabling the other player to do things and vice versa. And then when we started playing Gears of War, and that was the first great leap forward in cooperative play."

Of course, Tyler loves competitive play, as well -- but for different reasons.

"I like to play competitively with my friends and try to shoot them in the face," she grins. "And then laugh at them."

METRO WEEKLY: You've been an avid gamer for years, but you're also intensely busy. How do you find time to satisfy your gamer?

AISHA TYLER: That's the governing question of my entire life right now, because I love playing so much. When I only had one job, rather than five, I gamed more like most people game: Come home on a Friday, don't move till Monday morning, really immerse myself in a game, play an entire campaign in a weekend. I don't have that kind of time anymore, and it's really sad, actually. So my gaming is more furtive. I'm bummed about my lack of playtime.

MW: What types of games grip you most?

TYLER: People can interpret this any way they like, but I really only like to play first-person and third-person shooters. Those are the games that speak to me. I don't know what that says about me, but by limiting the kinds of games I play, it concentrates my gaming choices and limits them so that I'm not frustrated about not being able to play everything I want to play.

I'm also a franchise player. If I fall in love with a franchise, I'll play the franchise all the way through. Halo was my gateway console game -- that's the game I play multiplayer most with my friends. Then I got into Gears of War -- I especially love Gears because I thought that narratively it was one of the most cinematic games I'd ever played, especially by the third game. That was a really wonderful, sad, beautiful game. I try to play games that are rich in terms of competitive play and also that are narratively rich, because if you're going to spend hours and hours playing something, the story shouldn't suck.

MW: What about gaming draws you to it more than, say, going home and just picking up a copy of the latest bestseller or watching a movie?

TYLER: I love to read. I love films. But there's just something so rich about the pseudo-physical activity of being inside a video game. I feel like video games are as immersive as a film can be, and as immersive as a book can be and as great as the pictures in my head can be. When you have a really beautiful, well-built, fully realized game, it's so beautiful and it's so rich that there's an immersive quality to gaming. I think that's something different that films and books can't deliver.

MW: There are people who say "Video games aren't art, they're just a sidetrack, a hobby, a small thing." How would you respond to them?

TYLER: [Laughs.] God, I have a lot of words I probably shouldn't say in print. You can't make some people curious. You can't make them open-minded. If gaming isn't for you, it's not for you, I get it. But to call it not art when these worlds are so rich and so elaborate and so robust and so detailed…. And I haven't even probably seen all the most beautiful games that are out there. Anybody who claims it isn't art doesn't understand art, doesn't understand the complexity of art. I love all kinds of art -- I feel like the word art is all-encompassing. It's really about creative expenditure, creative output. These guys work incredibly hard and they're making a painting that you can navigate inside and that's pretty extraordinary. A film is a very precise narrative path that someone has chosen and you're sitting back and letting an artist take you on a ride. What's great about games is that you're able to choose that ride for yourself over and over again and have it end differently every time. Eventually we'll all be in haptic suits and walking inside these places.

MW: There are a lot of initiatives in the gaming movement to incorporate gay players and to lose the homophobia that's inherent in it. What do you think the gaming community or the producers of games can do to help move this forward?

TYLER: Obviously the market is very male -- it's mostly young guys. But I think that generally the gaming community is broader and more diverse than I think we're assuming. Someone asked me recently how could we reduce misogyny and sexism -- I think that all bigotry in gaming is not the same, but related -- and I said, "Don't tolerate it. Don't tolerate it online, don't let people say stuff that's unacceptable. Say something about it. Call them on it." You know, I don't play a lot of Xbox Live just because I don't want to hear all the crap people are saying. And I gotta tell you something -- 90 percent of the time they're not even racists, they're not even homophobes. They're just saying shit. So I think that's the first step for the gaming community.

I do think that with developers it's two sides of the same coin. One, they're there to make money; but two, they are making art and I feel like a part of that is creating rich worlds that are diverse in terms of character. I think we are moving in that direction. Whenever I think about diversity in terms of characters in games, I think of a character like Omar on The Wire, who was this incredibly masculine, aggressive, fearsome character and was also gay. We need oppressive, badass, kickass characters in games who you find out are gay the way you find out your friend is gay, but it's not something you talk about all day long every day. I mean, I don't talk about the fact that I'm black all day long every day, or that I'm straight all day long every day. It's just a part of the fabric. And I think that's where we have to go.

And I do believe in a kind of a Pollyannaish way that is the way that we're going. There are so many games out there and it's such a competitive world, it's really about how do we distinguish ourselves and make our individual games richer, more complex, more interesting and more textured. So I do think money speaks. There are these big gaming -- huge g-a-y-m-i-n-g -- collectives that are playing and that are talking about it, and they're going to pay attention. Because they want that market. So it's happening -- it's gonna happen.

MW: So, when are we going to see Archer: The Game?

TYLER: Everybody asks about that all the time. It would be awesome to see Archer: The Game, but I feel like we would all just sit around getting drunk and yelling at each other all the time. It wouldn't be a very active game. Just like a lot of bad sex and drunken fights.

MW: Sounds like a great game.

TYLER: [Laughs.] It would be a fun real-life game to play. I think it's more likely, fingers crossed, that we see a live-action film -- or an animated film -- before we see a game. And maybe the film will spawn the game. We're terrible at our spy missions, by the way. I don't know if anybody's noticed -- we're not very good spies. It's not like a Clancy game -- we're terrible. We're always running into stuff and blowing things up.

Aisha Tyler's Self-Inflicted Wounds (HarperCollins) is available at Amazon, Barnes&Noble and Books-A-Million. The Talk broadcasts daily on CBS at 2 p.m. Girl on Guy can be downloaded via iTunes. For more on Aisha Tyler, visit aishatyler.com.

Rhuaridh Marr contributed to this interview.

I love being a gamer. The exhilarating feeling of loading up a new game, the potential new worlds and experiences awaiting me, the joy of wandering through a creation designed to entertain in some varying degree -- gaming ignites more senses than art, music, film or television ever could. Pick up a controller and you're transformed -- save cities from destruction, forge paths through forgotten temples, wage war across continents, race supercars through exotic cities, throw angry avians at hirsute hogs, rescue a princess from a tyrannical turtle -- all are possible through gaming. It's escapism in a way we've never fully realized before, elevating a humdrum existence onto a plane where normal troubles are forgotten in Technicolor glory. Gaming can improve reflexes, stimulate aging brains, teach young ones, bring families together and provide distant friends a means of connecting and sharing in an activity together. Video games, more than ever, are clawing their way out from under the sneering and flippancy of those unwilling to actually play them. They're not just for kids, they're certainly not just a distraction. Gaming is, however, still very much not for gays.

Yes, of course, LGBT people play and enjoy games. Walk into a store or head online, and there are literally thousands of them waiting for your pink dollar. How many, though, specifically cater to that dollar? Very few. Unlike other forms of entertainment -- film, television, music -- gaming has no dedicated LGBT genre. Hollywood caters to those who want a rom-com or drama with two male leads. There are several gay-specific record labels. Gay and lesbian television viewers have multiple programs -- and even dedicated channels -- catering to a gay audience.

Video games, though, have very few such options. Make a list of all the games you've played or know of that feature gay characters, or openly discuss LGBT issues. How many can you name? Compare that with Logo TV, which has created 40 original programs since it started -- and that's just one niche LGBT network. The actual number for LGBT characters is surprising, as they've existed in games since 1986'sMoonmist, a text adventure widely regarded as the first major video game containing a gay character. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender or transvestite characters have played both major and minor roles for three decades of gaming, but, unlike other entertainment forms, have never managed to reach ubiquity. As society has slowly evolved to accept LGBT people, games have followed at an even slower pace.

When included, LGBT characters have often been stereotypes. In 1993's Police Quest: Open Season, a police officer is investigating the murder of his partner and, visiting a gay bar, learns that his partner led a secret life of cross-dressing. Blade Hunter, protagonist of 1990s Rise of the Dragon, hits on a woman who transpires to be a long-haired man, which leads Blade to worry that his nickname will become "Switch Blade." Michael Doi in Bust a Groove 2 is a flamboyant gay dance instructor -- and that's the extent of his characterization.

Censorship based on sexuality was rife, too. Japanese games have long been more liberal in their inclusion of LGBT characters, but many of them had any sexual themes removed for Western distribution. Birdo, perhaps the most famous transsexual in videogames, was openly referred to as a transgender female in Super Mario Bros. 2, but any such reference was removed by Nintendo for Western release. Indeed, Nintendo and Sega, its biggest rival, spent most of the '80s and '90s removing gay themes from games. Dragon Warrior III had a gay bar removed for NES release, while the Western release of Phantasy Star II for the Sega Genesis edited the sexuality of a music teacher down to the point that it was only hinted at when he charged male clients less for music lessons. Hardly a vocal endorsement of gay characters.

Throughout the '90s and into the 21st century, LGBT representation has been a continual mixed bag. Rockstar'sGrand Theft Auto: Vice City featured construction workers dressed like their representative in the Village People, who shouted quotes from "YMCA" and "In The Navy." They followed this with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, whose police force made statements such as "Drop the soap, Honey" and "I'm on your ass, Daisy," while a pink dildo that can be used as a weapon is only found in-game in the police station shower room. There are no female police officers, so we can only assume that shower-time in San Andreas is very steamy.

Rockstar then contradicted itself in the sequel, Grand Theft Auto IV. One character, French Tom, is an effeminate gay man who Nico, the player's character, must kill as part of a mission. His sexuality has nothing to do with his murder -- he owes money to another character -- but it's an offensively stereotypical portrayal of gay men in a hyper-masculine world. However, he isn't the only gay character. A later mission involves finding and killing a man named Florian. He transpires to be an old friend of Nico's, having served in the military with him, who has come to Liberty City -- GTA IV's New York City parody -- to restart his life as an out gay man. He convinces Nico that he should be looking for another person, and the two rekindle their friendship. Florian is even more effeminate than Tom, yet Nico not only befriends him, but protects him from murder in later missions. Rockstar doesn't present anything more than a gay stereotype to players, but it does so in two very different ways.

When developers do include LGBT characters, the reaction can often be inflammatory from gaming's male, heterosexual majority. Troika Games' The Temple of Elemental Evil featured a gay character who could be rescued and married by the protagonist. As it was 2003, it ignited controversy among straight gamers who resented the inclusion of the content -- despite same-sex marriage being optional. In an interview with RPG Vault, lead producer Tom Decker defended the game, saying, "I particularly felt strongly that since we had several heterosexual marriages available in Hommlet, we should include at least one homosexual encounter in the game … and not to make it a stereotyped, over the top situation, but on par with the other relationships available in the game."

The negative reaction of gamers clashes with 2004's Fable, which took an entirely laissez-faire approach to homosexual and bisexual relationships. Though its protagonist was male, it was entirely possible to romance and marry either male or female characters. Homosexuality and bisexuality are normal within the game, and should a player choose to romance both genders or just one, their sexuality was reflected in an in-game status. Creative director Dene Carter, speaking with Gamasutra, said that the inclusion of such relationships wasn't intended to be a statement. "It was not so much a question of overt inclusion as a reluctance to remove something that occurred naturally in the course of creating our villagers' artificial intelligence." Most surprising was the lack of controversy around the game's gay content, though Carter wasn't as shocked. "This seems entirely logical; in Fable, if you don't agree with playing as a gay man, or gay weddings … you don't play as a gay character. Simple, really." It was a refreshingly honest approach that is still something of an anomaly in today's video games.

That's not to say that we haven't had at least a few developers waving the rainbow flag. Ask any gay gamer what their first experience of gay or bisexual character in gaming was, and I'd be surprised if a sizable portion don't answer with The Sims. The life simulator from Maxis is an incredible game, filled with minute details and controls over your in-game character, their life, and their family should you choose to have one. In 2000, the original Sims title hit retailers, and gay and lesbian relationships were possible. Characters could move in with one another, whether same-sex or heterosexual, and adopt and raise children. Expansion game Livin' Largeintroduced the Vibromatic Heart Bed, which allowed one Sim to lie in bed and invite another to join them. It didn't show anything graphic -- merely rustling under the covers -- but it was an important step in interacting with a same-sex relationship. The Sims 2 followed in 2004, with the possibility for same-sex couples to form joined unions, distinct from heterosexual characters who could enjoy in-game marriage. In 2009, The Sims 3pre-empted most American states and granted marriage equality to same-sex couples, and if expansion packGenerationswas purchased, same-sex teens could go to the prom together. Sure, it's just a game, but for a closeted youth, being able to control an idyllic gay life free from discrimination could be an escape from reality -- especially as they come to terms with being gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Bioware, arguably, has the greatest record of any major game developer in their approach to gay or lesbian characters. In 2005, Jade Empire gave players the choice between a male or female protagonist, with both able to romance either men or women. Mass Effect, in its 2007 release, quite famously included Liara T'Soni, an un-gendered alien who appears feminine and who can be romanced by the protagonist regardless of whether the player chooses to be male or female -- the end result being a very quick, tasteful cutscene in which it is made clear that the characters are having sex. That relationship, as well as the two other heterosexual romance options available, were lambasted by neoconservative blogger Kevin McCullough, who ranted that "Mass Effectcan be customized to sodomize whatever, whomever, however, the game player wishes," even claiming that rape was possible. It was not, and the extent of Mass Effect's raciness was two glimpses of Liara's buttocks -- hardly enough to warrant the attack. Two sequels followed, with the first allowing for a female protagonist and a female character to romance, and the latter sequel allowing for both male and female protagonists to romance either sex.

Bioware's 2009 release Dragon Age: Origins went further still. Again, either a female or male protagonist could be selected, and both could romance either men or women. But both have the possibility for casual encounters as well as full relationships -- with cutscenes briefly showing sex, regardless of orientation. Similarly, both male and female prostitutes could be engaged in Dragon Age II. A small, yet vocal minority of gamers claimed that straight males were being marginalized by the inclusion of same-sex relationships, but Bioware's David Gaider refuted such claims on the company's website, stating, "The romances in the game are not for 'the straight male gamer.' They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention." He concluded with, "And the person who says that the only way to please themis to restrict options for others is, if you ask me, the one who deserves it least. And that's my opinion, expressed as politely as possible."

Bioware, Maxis and other developers who include positive gay role models are still very much in the minority. For every major release that includes a same-sex relationship or a transgender character (see Japan for the latter, as it's virtually non-existent in Western gaming), there are hundreds of others depicting gay stereotypes or simply ignoring LGBT characters altogether. For someone struggling with their sexuality or their gender, there's very little that gaming can currently offer to make them feel "normal" or accepted.

LGBT gaming has a meek past, but what about its future? Within one week gaming will have entered a new generation of home consoles. Sony releases its PlayStation 4 Nov. 15 for $399, while Microsoft releases Xbox One a week later for $499. Both are pretty evenly matched, and the decision of purchase comes down to existing preference and the litany of exclusive games that both consoles have. What both also represent, however, is a relative time-shift in gaming terms. We measure gaming, whether on a console or on a PC, in terms of the generation of home consoles that we are on. The PS4 and Xbox One represent the eighth generation, and with that generation comes fresh hope and optimism for gaming. What incredible new graphics will we see with the power of the consoles? Where will game developers take us as they let their creativity run wild? Will we finally see a major game with an LGBT lead character?

That latter question, especially in light of the incredible social advances that have happened in recent years, is one that will increasingly be asked of developers, publishers, console manufacturers and gamers themselves alike. Will the eighth generation of home consoles be the one that allows an LGBT teen to sit down at their PS4 or Xbox One, turn on their console and immerse in a world where they can fully express themselves, rather than fitting into a pre-determined role that is more than likely that of a heterosexual male.

The better question for now is whether a game like that would even make it to console. While gaming has no major -- or even minor -- queer-focused development crowd, if you want to play a specifically gay-oriented game, you really only have one option: PC. The open, free access to gaming development on PC means that, regardless of scope or budget, it's possible for a gay developer to craft something, get it online and have it be played by its target audience.

Trans gaming, in particular, is largely without any real representation. But transgender game-developer Anna Anthropy has made herself something of an indie-darling for just that: creating games that deal with trans and queer issues. Mighty Jill Off is a game that features a lesbian protagonist with a boot fetish, and explores BDSM in its gameplay and difficulty -- albeit in the guise of a simple platformer.Lesbian Spider Queens of Mars is deceptively simple, with its maze-orientated gameplay, but it's also sexy, tongue-in-cheek, features a lesbian protagonist and manages to be both challenging and rewarding, as well as a nice throwback to '80s arcade games. Anthropy's magnum opus, at least in my eyes, is Dsy4ia. Created as a simple browser game, it was developed by Anthropy to recount her experiences of gender-identity disorder and hormone-replacement therapy. It's an incredibly simple game. In fact, its basic interaction is the only real "gaming" part of it -- but it's also incredibly effective. Managing to be both thought-provoking and amusing, it follows six months in Anthropy's life as she struggles with her identity, her hormones and her relationship. Anthropy explained her reason for discussing the topic in a game, rather than a blog post or novel, with Penny Arcade Report: "This was a story about frustration -- in what other form do people complain as much about being frustrated? A video game lets you set up goals for the player and make her fail to achieve them. A reader can't fail a book. It's an entirely different level of empathy." Dys4ia, with its simple graphics and even simpler gameplay, won't revolutionize gaming, but it and Anthropy's other games are important lifelines to those who are otherwise ignored and marginalized by society and by mainstream gaming.

The same can be said of Up Multimedia's My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant, created by Luke Miller. It is, in many ways, a unique game. Catering to a gay male audience, it features a gay protagonist, gay characters and a gay enemy in a storyline that is unashamedly camp and over-the-top. As a game, it doesn't challenge any of the mainstream hitters, or even many indie titles. Its gameplay is relatively simple. It's got a few bugs and glitches, and it's a short, repetitive experience. These are, however, all symptoms of its small development pool and limited budget. Where it excels is in its story, its witty and referential writing, and its unique, cartoonish art style. It's got puns, innuendos, romance, 8-foot-tall enemies who are symphonies of muscle, a drag queen, gym-fit characters and a middle-aged lesbian couple. It has it all. It's a revelation -- especially after years of games that have a gay character added on or an optional gay-romance story -- to play something that is just straight-up gay.

"Game developers are champing at the bit to tell new stories in new ways," Miller told Metro Weekly via email, "and the discussion about LGBT voices in games is part of that wider debate about what is possible in this largely undeveloped art form." Miller is aware of the failings of developers, both indie and mainstream, to tap into the queer market effectively. "There is general recognition in the industry that we can and must do much better, especially with regards to telling stories that appeal to women, gay gamers and other under-represented groups. The audiences are demanding it but also, importantly, the content makers, who are often LGBT themselves, are no longer willing to remain invisible."

In terms of gay gaming, it's indie developers like Miller who will be leading the charge. The cheap access to development tools makes it easy for developers to craft specific stories and cater to markets that big-budget developers have yet to tap. Toni Rocca is president of GaymerX, an LGBT-focused gaming exhibition that ran for the first time in San Francisco in August. As well as offering a place for LGBT gamers and developers to meet and discuss gaming, it gave attendees a space to feel comfortable away from the often masculine and hetero-focused conventions where gay or trans gamers may feel less-inclined to be open. Rocca agrees that the next stage of LGBT gaming will take place on PC, away from home consoles. "Whether people get their Xbox or PlayStation," he says, "they'll be spending a good chunk of time and money on Steam and freeware games. This is, I believe, especially true of queer gamers. LGBTQ individuals are taking game creation into their own hands. This new wave of queer games is something of a revolution, and we are learning quickly that it doesn't really have the patience to wait for console licensing processes."

It's a sentiment that Miller echoes. "The other big trend I think we will see in the next few years is openly-gay games from the indie scene. Games where the gay content is front and center and the emphasis is on story. Whereas big games will have LGBT content as a discreet aside, there will be a growing library of indie games with queer protagonists and lifestyles for those of us who want an unadulterated gay experience."

Should a queer, indie game prove successful, it could quickly find itself in the mainstream. That's what occurred with Fullbright Company's Gone Home this year. In the game, the protagonist returns home to discover her parents and teenage sister are missing, and the house empty. Over the course of the game, the player explores the home, unlocking snippets of dialogue that slowly unravel the narrative of the sister while discovering items and personal effects that further detail the events that took place. It is, on first impressions, a point-and-click, immensely detailed exploration game. But it's in the narrative that Gone Home provides a stunning revelation. Slowly, teasingly, it reveals -- and I caution spoilers here, so skip the next few sentences if you'd rather play for yourself -- that the younger sister is coming to terms with her sexuality, and that she ultimately is missing as she has ran away with her high school lover. It's a revelation that surprised many, and delighted many more. Gone Home brought LGBT gaming into the limelight, and did so as a small, indie title, and in a way that didn't force gamers into the awkward position of having to play as an LGBT character if they didn't wish to.

Steve Gaynor, the co-founder of Fullbright Company, is a champion of PC development and its ability to allow gaming experiences that can offer such positive inclusions of LGBT themes. "The new consoles aren't the only place to look for interesting new experiences in games," he says. "PC and Mac as well as mobile platforms are all thriving with new releases by independent developers that don't need to target the 18-to-24-year-old straight male demographic to succeed." He is, however, all too aware of the relative lack of a dedicated LGBT-focused portion of the gaming industry. "While my guess would be that a segment of the industry catering specifically to LGBT audiences will remain small, I know that more games in both the indie and mainstream space will continue to gain more freedom to explore more varied and relevant themes than ever before. And hopefully that will give the LGBT audience, and everyone else, more interesting and personal gaming experiences to connect with."

If indie gaming is the future of gay gaming, where does that leave the console gamer? Are we condemning those who don't have a computer to play games on to sit out the next generation as LGBT developers find their footing in the gaming world? It doesn't have to be that way. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, which decides on the ratings that games get upon their release, openly stated that they will not discriminate on the ground of sexuality when it comes to rating a game for console release. Spokesman Eliot Mizrachi told Metro Weekly, "ESRB treats all characters the same regardless of their sexual orientation; whether they are gay or straight has no bearing on our ratings. But if content is sexual it can certainly impact the age rating category, and we will label it as such regardless of the gender of the characters involved." What this means for young gamers, those who aren't yet old enough to play mature games, is that should a developer include a gay character into a normal game, it won't be penalized for that character being gay. And, really, what better way for a struggling gay youth to feel normal than for them to see a gay character alongside their straight friends in a game?

Electronic Arts has already thrown its hat into the LGBT-friendly ring, and other publishers seem willing, too. Sony Online Entertainment, whose parent company makes the PlayStation, and Valve, which operates one of the largest online PC game stores and also make games, both sponsored Sydney Gaymers, a group of LGBT-inclusive gamers based in Australia, when they decided to march in the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade. Sony is bringing a renewed focus on indie gaming to the PS4, which may in the future see LGBT games such as Gone Home coming to the platform should there be enough support for them -- though this is, of course, just speculation. A Microsoft spokesperson, when asked by Metro Weekly whether they would support greater focus on LGBT gaming, responded, "The Xbox community is larger and more diverse than ever before. With the launch of Xbox One, we are excited to welcome everyone into a new generation of games and entertainment."

Ultimately, as we move into the next generation, LGBT gamers shouldn't feel forced to play just indie, PC titles in order to feel included. The fantastic work of indie developers can't be ignored -- they are opening important doors for LGBT people -- but is it too much to ask that a big-budget studio, in this day and age, take a risk and throw a likeable, playable LGBT character into a game? Controversy breeds normality -- there will, of course, be an initial backlash from the vocal minority who can't stand to see inclusion. When My Ex-Boyfriend The Space Tyrant was submitted to Valve's Steam game store, comments ranged from, "If this was lesbians it would be awesome, but it's not. Get this shit off steam please," to simply "fag shit." Such vitriol will hopefully soon be relegated to the history books.

Gaming really is an all-encompassing experience. Pick up a controller, grab a mouse, or even tap on a mobile screen, and you're taken from reality. For an LGBT gamer, particularly one who is still struggling to admit that they are gay, or bisexual, or that they are having gender-identity issues, having a way to remove yourself from the worry and complexity of normal life is an intoxicating elixir. What our responsibility, and our goal, for the future should be is to make sure that when an LGBT person picks up a controller they're not picking up another gateway to prejudice and exclusion. I want to be able to go into a multiplayer game and not hear people throw about "Homo!" as if it meant nothing. I want to play a game and have at least the option to enjoy a same-sex romance storyline. I want to have a trans character in a game who isn't referenced as being trans because every other character is confused by them. I want to see Mario leave Princess Peach in her castle and go to a gay bar. That last one may just be me, though.

Contributing editor Rhuaridh Marr covers video games, technology and cars daily at MetroWeekly.com.

As Washington's LGBT community puts the final touches on a ceremony marking the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20, the mood of this year's D.C. event is likely to be underscored by the abrupt closure earlier this year of one of the city's most critical organizations serving the transgender community.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual event honoring those who have lost their lives because of transphobia and to spur the LGBT community to take action to prevent anti-transgender violence, will be marked locally at the Metropolitan Community Church.

Transgender activist Earline Budd, one of the chief organizers of the event, says several musical groups, including the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington's a cappella group Potomac Fever, gospel singer Shirley Hughes and Company, and the AGAPE choir of Unity Fellowship Church, will participate in the three-hour service.

Organizers have also confirmed that Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and D.C. Fire Chief Ken Ellerbe will also attend, as will Alvin Bethea and Judean Jones, the parents of Deoni Jones, a young transgender woman killed while waiting at a Northeast D.C. bus stop in February 2012. The service will make special mention of the JaParker Deoni Jones Birth Certificate Equality Amendment Act, which was signed into law by Gray, and will honor the D.C. Council and advocates who helped to pass the law providing residents more control over their official documents with regard to gender identity.

D.C. easily had its share of anti-transgender violence in 2013, including a transgender woman suffering a non-fatal attack in June in which she was stabbed nearly 40 times. Aside from the violence, however, concerns about the challenges facing the transgender community are especially acute in light of the recent closure of one of the community's chief service providers, Transgender Health Empowerment (THE). THE shut its doors in April after the organization filed for bankruptcy as a result of mismanagement, failure to pay federal employee payroll taxes, and failure to pay employees for hours worked.

According to bankruptcy filing documents, THE, under the leadership of Executive Director Anthony Hall, has a little more than $37,000 in assets, yet owes $386,266.75 to creditors holding ''priority'' claims, including $264,248 in employee federal payroll taxes from 2008 to 2013 to the Internal Revenue Service, as well as unpaid wages to multiple former employees. The organization also owes $180,277.55 to creditors holding ''non-priority'' claims, mostly relating to the day-to-day operations of THE.

THE's closure meant an end to its drop-in center, where transgender individuals could seek temporary shelter, have meals, find clothing and receive counseling or HIV testing and medical referrals. Budd says that many of the clients who were previously served by THE, located at 1414 North Capitol St. NW, have not found replacement services.

''I think some of our girls didn't end up going anywhere,'' she says. ''They're not going to trek up to Georgia Avenue. So they're probably not receiving any services.''

The Wanda Alston House, transitional housing for otherwise homeless LGBT youth, began as a program of THE, but has since formed its own foundation and board of directors to manage its affairs, with LGBT community center Casa Ruby, acting as its fiscal agent. Neither the Wanda Alston House nor the Wanda Alston Foundation is involved in THE's bankruptcy proceedings.

Notably, Casa Ruby will also be holding a Transgender Day of Action event Friday, Nov. 22, at The Next Step Charter School in Columbia Heights. This event, featuring the documentary film Trans, will focus discussion on transgender homelessness and under-employment. It will also serve as a fundraiser for Casa Ruby's new Career and Employment Services Program. 

Budd says she and other advocates are trying to open another drop-in center to continue the services THE offered. In the meantime, the Transgender Day of Remembrance will highlight the scarcity of resources available to D.C.'s transgender population.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20, will be marked in D.C. with a service at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C., 474 Ridge St. NW, at 6 p.m. For more information, call 202-638-7373 or visit mccdc.com. The Casa Ruby Transgender Day of Action is Friday, Nov. 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Next Step Charter School, 3047 15th St. NW. For more information, email corado@casaruby.org. 

With the holidays around the corner, plenty of us are bound to find ourselves in alien surroundings. It might be at the family home of a new romantic interest for Thanksgiving dinner. A holiday office party might land you in a corner with some co-worker's spouse you've never met. This is a very social season.

Mine got off to a head start last weekend with the Association of Personal Historians annual conference. While I've met a handful of fellow D.C.-area members since joining the APH, this was a time for countless introductions in a demographic that presents as largely women, largely white, seemingly suburban and exurban, and where my 44 years may put me at the younger end of things. Surely I wasn't the only gay person – or L, B or T, for that matter – at the conference, though I cannot prove otherwise.

This not being a social event, what did it matter? I was signed up to enjoy presentations like ''Obituary Writing for Fun and Profit'' – which I certainly did – not to revel. There was, however, a bit of socializing Friday night: the requisite welcome reception. I grabbed a beer and ended up chatting with a young (by which I mean a mother of three who looked to be in her early 30s) woman from Cleveland. Before we could spend much time sharing our disgust for ''Cincinnati chili,'' one of the organizers, Sue, instructed us to split into groups defined by our home regions, and then discuss with our regional compatriots our local cuisine. Sue was cooking something up. After a few minutes, she opened the floor for anyone to tell a story about food.

A wonderful New Yorker with Italian heritage took the microphone and told us all about marrying into an Irish-American family, and how she had to explain the concept of a stuffed artichoke to her turnip-loving in-laws. Another woman told a tale of romantic betrayal centered on a garlicky New York deli. A ''ragin' Cajun'' detailed the delicacy of crawfish, and how her mother would ''suck the head till the eyes wiggled -- crass, I know.''

Whether a story followed a crowd-pleasing formula or merely meandered, everyone was hooked. People who know me well will be amazed that I didn't jump up -- particularly with a couple Amstel Lights in me -- to tell a far-too-long tale of boll weevils in biscuits or to share my father's secret to good cooking. I was content just to listen to strangers pull back the curtains a bit on their lives.

In a ''not seeing the forest through the trees'' idiomatic moment, I realized I'd never thought much about how sharing stories fosters the sort of empathy that leads to equality. There is obviously a correlation between knowing a gay person and advancing social acceptance. That knowing comes through stories, even if they're as simple as a retelling of a particularly shitty commute. It becomes so much harder to dehumanize people once we've heard their stories, mundane or miraculous.

I've been telling LGBT peoples' stories for years, but I never thought much of the audience beyond other LGBT people. Even in this closed arena, however, there is plenty of need for storytelling. Maybe you're gay, but don't feel any kinship with those fighting for transgender equality. Or you're staunchly left-leaning and dismiss gay Republicans as idiots. Or you've paid your decades of dues and feel just fine lumping all queer kids into a banal ball.

If you can point to people who seem too alien to warm up to, read their stories, watch their stories, or, best yet, let them tell you their stories. You may not become an ally or a friend, but you will be compelled to respect their humanity. And there's no one who doesn't deserve that.

Will O'Bryan is Metro Weekly's managing editor. Email him at // . Follow him on Twitter @wobryan.

Another Halloween has already come and gone, but a mysterious specter is still haunting the stage at the Keegan Theatre. Maybe if its full story is told, the ghost and its unspeakable horrors will leave the premises?

And why not tell it in chilly November? The increasing popularity of FX's American Horror Story is just one sign that the demand to be scared and spooked doesn't end on the Day of the Dead. So if you're still in the mood for a good ghost story, with even some theatrical fits and frights, Keegan Theatre has certainly got your ticket all month with Stephen Mallatratt's play The Woman in Black, adapted from Susan Hill's 30-year-old Gothic novel.

The Woman in Black

(Photo by Cameron Whitman)

Focused on a seriously haunted remote seaside town in England, The Woman in Black is the struggle of a London-based solicitor to first unearth and then publicly reveal the identity of the ghostly titular character. Mr. Kips first sees this ghost as a young man after making the trek to the scary town with a scary name, Crythin Gifford. He goes there to attend the funeral of a client, a reclusive widow. The audience never sees the widow, Mrs. Alice Drablow. But we do see, only ever briefly and faintly in shadows, the female apparition dressed fully in a black Victorian-era dress, as designed by Kelly Peacock. There's no official credit to the actress miming the part of the ghost here. Because naming names suggests it's not real. Also, as Mr. Kips had to learn the hard way that revealing too much has real -- deathly -- consequences.

Officially, therefore, only two actors play all the parts in The Woman in Black: at Keegan, Robert Leembruggen is an older Mr. Kips and Matthew Keenan is the actor Mr. Kips hires to help him muster the courage to tell the ghost tale that has haunted him for too long. But it's not as easy as it looks or sounds. Once we get into the old tale, Keenan as the actor plays the role of a young Mr. Kips journeying to Crythin Gifford while Leembruggen then assumes the roles of the people he meets along the way. It can be a tad tricky, here and there, keeping things straight, especially as the story bobs between past and present. Of course that only adds to the mystery.

The Woman in Black starts slowly and with restraint, as if it were a stuffy Masterpiece Theatre production brought to life. The late playwright Mallatratt is known for his work on several successful British television series, including The Forsyte Saga, which in fact was featured on the American Masterpiece. But The Woman in Black has been a runaway success in London, where the play has been staged nonstop on the West End for a nearly record-breaking 14 years and counting. So just stick with it if at first you find yourself struggling to understand or stay awake.

Once we get into the heart of the story -- and especially once we're firmly in Mrs. Drabnow's spooky home on the hill -- everything picks up. By the time the show's over, Keegan and directors Colin Smith and Mark A. Rhea have given theatergoers a real ride; a sophisticated, theatrical equivalent of a haunted house adventure. You just might scream – and certainly will gasp – at least once as a result of a few tricks played by Keegan's well-coordinated team, most notably Michael Innocenti on lights and Tony Angelini on sound.

If you haven't come around the way a skeptical Mr. Kips did and still don't believe in ghosts at play's end, well, don't blame Keegan. But do look across the street as you exit. Boo!

It is hard to see Yael Farber's play Mies Julie without reflecting on J.M. Coetzee's extraordinary novel Disgrace. Both set in post-apartheid South Africa, each in its own way grapples with the complexities, paradoxes and unaccountable emotions of a legacy of brutal colonial rule. Yet whereas Coetzee approaches the fallout of apartheid from the oblique angles of a morally adrift white man, Farber, in her adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie, delivers her take head-on, one-on-one, in a resolution so high it's almost surreal. Freed from the sterility of headlines and rich with insight, both are works that do not try to explain the unexplainable, but they do, in their way, frame it.

Having said that, some will without doubt prefer the intellectual and emotional subtlety of Coetzee's exploration of apartheid's second act, even with its insidiously unsettling revelations. Raw and explosively theatrical, Farber's treatment sits at the other end of the spectrum. Intense, bloody and fully conversant with the trend for increasingly realistic simulated sex, it is not for the faint of heart. It is also far more obvious, with cues and clues to history and events offered with regularity by the characters and, at times, a certain predictability and derivative feel – this is not the first drama to grapple graphically with interracial love and sex. It is also a piece that walks the line between a realism that brings pathos and a mild existentialism that suggests bigger ideas; it's a balance that does not always work and a challenge the actors cannot always meet.

Mies Julie: Bongile Mantsai, Hilda Cronjein

(Photo by Murdo MacLeod)

And yet for those who can get past these distractions, or see them as the price of admission, this is a powerful and profoundly visceral vision of all that is possible and impossible and all that is hopeful and corrupted in contemporary South African life. In other words, whatever the headlines may or may not tell us, reality lives in the intimacy of what real, non-newsworthy people endure daily in the rewards and ruins of the post-colonial era and this is where Farber digs deep.

Seen through a single fateful night in the kitchen of a rural farmhouse, Farber sets her storm of social, political and gender dynamics into play with the troubled Mies Julie, daughter of the absent farm-owner. Stalking the room like a caged animal, she is fixated on John, the young black man who has worked the estate since they were children. As the needs of each surface, dive, delude and finally explode, the moonless night ebbs and flows with the songs of restless ancestors and the very real disenfranchised.

And sound and music are a large part of Farber's vision, with the saxophone and synthesizer of Daniel and Matthew Pencer creating a haunting sense of ancient mystery and danger reminiscent of the affecting scores of films such as Alan Parker's Angel Heart and Peter Weir's Last Wave. As John and Mies Julie, the beautifully athletic Bongile Mantsai and Hilda Cronje, are as fully choreographed as dancers and they bring much artistry to the violence of emotion and eroticism that invests their encounter. But, again, Farber makes a choice; like the existential verbal exchanges, these stunning bodies and their extraordinary movements take from the realism and it's a trade-off that dampens the pathos.

As Mies Julie, Conje aptly captures a sexual frustration that is inextricably bound to the frisson of an unsettled soul. A bold and erratic portrayal, she does much to surmount the challenges of the character. And there are challenges, for Julie is very hard to read. Is she mentally ill? Is she a symbol of the white oppressor? Is she her father's pawn? Probably all three. But in declining to define Julie with greater clarity, the erratic way in which she pinches and pets, the extremes of her behavior, Farber makes her more a vehicle than a viable human being. Every gesture she makes – of antagonism, love or despair – produces a reaction in John that speaks to the legacy of their history, but not to her. Indeed, we learn more about Julie in her brief, poetic memory of the smell of her mother's hair, than we do in all her extremes and provocations.

A tremendous stage presence, Mantsai is at once larger-than-life and yet full of credible conviction. It is his convincing emotional honesty that drives much of the play's momentum, even as he seamlessly manages some very complex choreography. This John looks as if he is actually thinking, calculating, wondering at the woman that has set him in her sights.

In a small but memorable role as John's mother, Christine, Thoko Ntshinga beautifully depicts a woman bound to her ancestors and the land they once owned even if it means a life of subservience and spiritual compromise in the here and now. Her eyes speak volumes, expressing everything of the despair and endurance of the survivor. As the Ancestor as well as singing and playing traditional African musical instruments, Tandiwe Nofirst Lungisa moves through the play offering a quietly powerful presence and a reminder that, for many South Africans, there is a continuum older and more enduring than any one conflict in time. And it's this unflinching vision of what it means to steal not just land, but a people's history and potential, that makes this play another powerful voice for South Africa.

Next year, Nigel Williams turns 40. He insists the four-decade mark is causing him none of the midlife angst it does for so many. ''I think I have that more European mindset,'' says Williams, who grew up in an English seaside resort. ''Age is just a number to me.''

In fact, Williams was 38 when he achieved a milestone of far more lasting significance: winning the title of Mr. DC Eagle 2013.

''This whole year, quite frankly, has been a milestone,'' says Williams, who had never even entered a leather contest before. ''This was one of those wonderful, bizarre, crazy, surprising things that happened. It gave me a family and support and adventures.''

Holding a title touted as the oldest leather title in the country also gave Williams greater insight into both the large leather world -- he placed in the finals at Chicago's preeminent International Mr. Leather contest in May -- and the local community. ''We have such a strong and passionate leather community here in the city,'' he says. ''It gave me an amazing opportunity...to increase my knowledge and increase the bonds.''

Nigel Williams, Mr. DC Eagle

(Photo by Todd Franson)

As one specific example, Williams, an avid runner, has worked to increase the bonds among his predecessors, creating a team of Mr. DC Eagle titleholders to run in charity races such as October's Army Ten-Miler. The main focus of his year as Mr. DC Eagle has been to raise money and awareness for Whitman-Walker Health and its work on HIV/AIDS. He organized another leather team to participate in AIDS Walk Washington. He also recruited Whitman-Walker Health representatives to give free onsite HIV testing several nights at the DC Eagle. ''I think everyone has a responsibility to know their status,'' he says, ''and make informed decisions based on that.''

Next Saturday, Nov. 23, Williams will give up his sash and help choose his successor. ''There's a lot of history and a lot of tradition and a lot of eyes always on Mr. DC Eagle,'' Williams says. Applications are still available for those wanting to compete in the contest, which is the main event in a weekend-long celebration of the bar's 42 years in business.

The DC Eagle became Williams's ''home bar'' when he moved to D.C. for a job in human resources, settling into an apartment just three blocks away from the venue's third and current location on New York Avenue.

But the DC Eagle wasn't the bar that initially sparked Williams's passion for leather in 1998. A year after Williams first settled in the states, in Orlando -- working for Walt Disney World, naturally -- he traveled south and made a chance visit to the Ramrod Fort Lauderdale. ''It was just very liberating to see people living their life completely out loud,'' he says. ''It was just a very different level of freedom than I've seen in other gay pubs. It was really refreshing.''

The Mr. DC Eagle 2014 Contest is Saturday, Nov. 23, starting at 11:30 p.m., at the DC Eagle, 639 New York Ave. NW. Call 202-347-6025 or visit dceagle.com.

Among the chief benefits of membership in the Capital Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, aka The Chamber, according to many members, are the numerous opportunities for networking with fellow business owners and executives in the Washington area. From the monthly Networking Thursdays to the annual g.life event, The Chamber offers a diverse range of regularly scheduled happenings designed to link LGBT business leaders with potential clients, employers and corporate alliances.

One of these events bringing together members of the local LGBT community is The Chamber's monthly Women's Wednesday, held the third Wednesday of each month. The event has proven popular with women business leaders, both lesbians and straight allies, as well as with many men, seeking inroads into new pockets of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender economic community.

''After being involved (with The Chamber) for about a year, I started looking at where I could serve more and become a catalyst for change,'' says Eleasa DuBois, chair of the Women's Wednesday program and the owner of Tightbody Makeover, a health and wellness consulting firm. ''The opportunity to work with the Women's Wednesday events resonated with me because I wanted to connect with more female centers of influence, and brainstorm ways to propel business growth within the LGBTQ community.''

Eleasa DuBois

(Photo by Henley Photography)

DuBois is seeking new and more innovative ways to enhance the networking experience. For example, The Chamber's upcoming Women's Wednesday, scheduled for Nov. 20, will feature a mini seminar presented by New York Life, on how the Supreme Court ruling on Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will affect long-term care in the LGBT community.

''When I sponsored an event, I was able to speak about my services and instill value in a short period of time,'' she says. ''As a result, I was sought after by individuals who actually wanted what I had to offer.''

Denise Bump, president of Bump & Associates, a financial practice of Ameriprise Financial Services Inc., describes the two events her firm has sponsored as ''worthwhile,'' due to the fact that the women who attend are professional and interested in making solid business connections. She believes that women have a different approach to networking than men.

''We network for many aspects of our life rather than a single focus on career,'' says Bump. ''We ask other people what they do for a nanny, where to buy a good purse on sale, to recommend a good dog walker, a vacation spot, or a good dentist. We want details as to why they recommend what they do to evaluate whether it fits our personal expectations.''

Bump's associate at her company, Michele Pennypacker, concurs with Bump's positive assessment of the value of the mid-week events. Pennypacker ran the events from January to April of this year while employed at a different firm. Her conversations with Bump at the events she ran led to her joining Bump & Associates.

Not the least of the advantages Women's Wednesday offers networkers is that they are held in attractive, secure locations. DuBois remembers an event earlier this year held at the Warner Theater in a room decorated as a Moroccan lounge.

''Everyone had a great time,'' DuBois says. ''Many people stayed about an hour after the event officially ended, continuing to network and chat. It's a good sign when folks don't want to leave your event.''

The next Women's Wednesday is Nov. 20, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, 1526 14th St. NW.

The Chamber Means Business. For more information visit caglcc.org or facebook.com/CAGLCC. On Twitter, follow @DCLGBTBIZ

John F. Stanton, a CAGLCC member, is the president of SRP & Associates Inc., a strategic marketing and public relations firm in Northern Virginia.

''Have we really come very far in terms of acceptance?''

Actor Michael Stebbins says that's a question provoked by the play I Am My Own Wife, whose central character is Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. This real-life German transvestite somehow managed to escape notice and persecution by the Nazis as a boy dressed in girl's clothes. Nearly a half-century after Germany's darkest chapter, von Mahlsdorf warned her compatriots that she saw renewed flickers of intolerance.

Michael Stebbins in ''I Am My Own Wife''

(Photo by Stan Barouh)

''Charlotte in the play is interviewed on a German television show in the early '90s and says that anti-Semitism has come back and so has homophobia,'' explains Stebbins, who plays von Mahlsdorf -- and the play's dozens of minor characters to boot -- in the production of Doug Wright's play now at Columbia's Rep Stage. Rep Stage is actually the fourth theater company in the D.C.-Baltimore region in only the past seven years to stage the show, which also scooped up every major American theater award a decade ago, including the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize. Stebbins thinks the play's success and perennial popularity comes from its focus on the ever-morphing but also ever-relevant ''idea of acceptance, whether it be color of skin, religion, preferences of any kind. We're still talking about stuff that's very current.''

Of course its construction as a one-man show adds appeal to both actors seeking a showcase for their range and theater companies seeking a savings from standard show costs. ''For one union actor, you get 25 characters,'' Stebbins says, laughing, ''I'm a real deal!''

I Am My Own Wife actually comes at the start of a new chapter for Stebbins, who last May stepped down as Rep Stage's producing artistic director after nearly eight years. Stebbins is now working fulltime as a freelance stage actor and director, with projects brewing in New York as well as his hometown of Milwaukee.

But don't worry, he won't be a stranger in these parts for long: Stebbins will return to Rep Stage in the spring for a role in the musical The Fantasticks. – Doug Rule

I Am My Own Wife runs to this Sunday, Nov. 17, at The Horowitz Center's Studio Theatre at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md. Tickets are $33 to $40. Call 443-518-1500 or visit repstage.org.

Relatively few people ever got the chance to see Edie Beale perform cabaret. ''She was getting calls from all over the world, and she just didn't want to do it,'' Jeffrey Johnson says of Beale reprising her one and only show, which ran for just one week in 1978 at the former New York nightclub Reno Sweeney.

Edie Beale live at Reno Sweeney: Jeffrey Johnson

(Photo by Ron Leiberman)

Yet, surprisingly, close to four decades later, there is still demand for the show. At least, there is demand for Johnson's portrayal of the one-time cabaret performer and mid-20th century socialite, a first cousin to Jackie Kennedy Onassis, whose peculiar domesticity was captured in the documentary Grey Gardens. Johnson first took on the role in 2009 when Ganymede Arts, the former LGBT theater company he ran, presented Edie Beale Live at Reno Sweeney. He developed the comedic cabaret show with his longtime friend Gerald Duval, who had co-written the original cabaret with Beale and first proposed the revival to Johnson. ''I've seen you do a couple of these roles where you've experimented with gender," Duval told Johnson, referring to his popular, hot-pink-haired Special Agent Galactica, "and I think you could really do Edie Beale.''

Johnson has been playing Beale off and on in the years since, and this weekend Johnson debuts a run at L'Enfant Cafe, which he praises for its intimacy and ambience. He anticipates developing more shows at L'Enfant after the holidays, perhaps even one in which he performs as himself out of drag. But the Beale cabaret will surely be revived again. Says Johnson: ''There's a cult following out there for Edie Beale and Grey Gardens.'' -- Doug Rule

Edie Beale Live at Reno Sweeney runs for six shows starting Sunday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m., with ''A Night of 1,000 Edies'' costume party performance Saturday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m., at L'Enfant Cafe, 2000 18th St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-319-1800 or visit lenfantcafe.com.

The American dream, more than whatever else, is a longing for health and wealth. We want to live and make good livings. So, naturally, the people who embody those basic ambitions fascinate us. The beautiful actors. The savvy business leaders. The impossible athletes. Anybody named "Kennedy." If you're lively and flush with cash, you're almost certainly an object of affection to somebody in America.

Ron Woodruff was not like those people. Dallas Buyers Club, a fictionalized recount of Woodruff's life as a gray-market medicine man at the heights of the AIDS crisis, makes clear he was plagued by his own casual bigotry, promiscuity, alcoholism and drug use. If modern icons are constructed of vitality and stock portfolios, Woodruff was their equal and opposite: a man determined to live on the fringe of society, in spite of his AIDS diagnosis.

Dallas Buyers Club

(Photo by Anne Marie)

Director Jean-Marc Vallée introduces Woodruff between the slats of a Texas rodeo pen. He's fooling around with two women, while mere feet away from their coked-up ménage à trois, a cowboy grabs ahold of a bull and tries to ride it to submission. (Metaphor alert!) Yes, this is a bona fide McConaughey performance, all flirty bravado and good ole boy charisma -- not unlike Dazed and Confused's David Wooderson, a second cousin to this gaunt sleaze ball. McConaughey lost some 40 pounds for this role, but it's not his scrawniness alone that stands out. His skin is loose and worn, as if he's spent decades mainlining Marlboro Reds and Jack Daniels. He is an ill man.

Woodruff's life seems a blue-collar bacchanalia -- a whirlwind of girls, booze, drugs and gambling -- until a workplace accident lands him in the hospital, where a routine blood test reveals that he has "full-blown AIDS." An impassive doctor (Denis O'Hare) tells Woodruff he has 30 days to live. Woodruff tells him to go fuck himself, then leaves the hospital.

From there, Dallas Buyers Club stretches beyond the tropes it invokes to explain how Woodruff outlived that death sentence. After finally conceding he has AIDS, Woodruff meticulously researches the disease. (The old fashioned way, in a library.) He learns about the then-experimental drug AZT, and after a misguided attempt to buy it from the goodly Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner), bribes a hospital janitor to steal it for him. When the AZT hurts more than it helps -- it's repeatedly described as "poison" -- Woodruff smuggles a trunkful of unregulated drugs across the border from Mexico. He partners up with a tragic transgender woman – as described by actor Jared Leto, who plays the part – named Rayon, opens up a hush-hush medicine service in a motel, and – Voila! – the Dallas Buyers Club is born.

So, how exactly do you take a homophobe who believes he can't have a "faggot disease," and turn him into a sympathetic, life-saving protagonist? A bit of honesty, and a bit of showmanship, and one supremely talented actor. Screenwriters Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack suggest that Woodruff's bigotry was a soft product of his environment, a card-tower easily toppled and replaced. As he warms up to Rayon, the two develop a rapport that wouldn't be out of place in The Honeymooners. They tease each other like an old married couple, nagging and joking in a warm, familiar way. The best moments in Dallas Buyers Club are Woodruff's scenes with Rayon, if only because they soften his remarkable transformation from bigot to hero.

That's not to say it's all peachy, though. Borten and Wallack seem to have an endless supply of animosity for AZT, which even today can be helpful in smaller doses. They simplify Woodruff's story into a tale of a man against the medical-pharmaceutical giants, which ignores the complicated, organized assault against the health care industry during the AIDS crisis. (For a much, much better account of the same period, watch David France's moving documentary How to Survive a Plague.) It's inspiring to watch a man fight for his own life, but Dallas Buyers Club won't acknowledge its biggest inherent flaw: Woodruff is the archetype of the white savior in the age of the anti-hero. His story accidentally reflects the advantages of being a straight, white man in America. Every gay character's experience is filtered through him.

Of course, a movie about Ron Woodruff needs to be movie about Ron Woodruff. I don't question the intent behind Dallas Buyers Club, but, rather, the effect of recasting a pivotal age of the gay-rights movement as one straight man's struggle against mainstream science. The problem lives in the bones of this movie, impossible to separate from the good that surrounds it. It complicates things. Perhaps it's a quintessentially American story, after all.

In the comfortable second-floor meeting space of Dupont Circle's Le Mirch restaurant Wednesday evening, Nov. 13, the conversation had zero to do with anything so pleasant as fine dining. Instead, a small handful of organizers tried to give a group of about 20 locals better insight into the situation for LGBT people in Russia.

That insight began with a clip of Masha Gessen speaking with Euronews. The Russian-American, lesbian journalist, author of 2012's The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, was explaining why she and her family fled Russia to relocate in the United States.

''If it goes to the floor, it will pass,'' Gessen told Euronews as her young child sat on her lap, referring to a legislator's promise to draft legislation aimed at prohibiting gay people from parenting. ''They're going to go after the kids.'' Gessen detailed her rationale in an Aug. 10 piece for The Guardian titled, ''As a gay parent I must flee Russia or lose my children.''

From clip to first person, the event moved to Viacheslav ''Slava'' Revin, a gay, HIV-positive Russian man seeking asylum in the United States following abuse and threats from Russian authorities due to his activism in that country. In August, Revin came to D.C. from New York, where he was living temporarily, having arrived in the U.S. in July. At the time, Revin spoke to The DC Center's ''Center Global'' group, with Larry Poltavtsev, president of the McLean-based Spectrum Human Rights organization serving as translator, and asked that his name not be included due to his immigration status. Revin has since relocated to Washington, where Patrick Forrest and his husband, Andy Monaco, have offered him temporary housing. More importantly, perhaps, attorney Elizabeth Carlson, is drafting Revin's asylum request pro bono. Forrest added that Revin's history of activism makes masking his identity pointless, and pointed out that Revin has been taking English classes regularly. While Poltavtsev was again in attendance, Revin this time spoke from his own prepared remarks.

''On June 12, I woke up to find a tweet from the police. It is not easy for the LGBT community to survive in Putin's Russia,'' Revin began, explaining that his LGBT activism was possible as recently as 2007, when he protested at an Iranian diplomatic mission in Russia with a sign reading ''Hands Off Gays.'' By 2008, however, he wasn't protesting Iranian laws, but being persecuted by Russia's. ''I went from being able to post my comments about LGBT people in the newspaper to … being arrested. … I need to fear Putin, the government, the judge, my neighbors. I come back to my house and see on my door, 'Sodomite lives here.'''

''For me it's a choice,'' Revin said plainly. ''You can wait for something bad and live in fear, or you can be an LGBT activist and say no. … I'm not a slave to the government. It's my government. It needs to work for me.''

In the brief round of questions that followed, Revin was asked what his ''dream'' might be.

''To have a husband,'' Revin said to applause. ''Maybe moving back to Russia. I understand this is impossible now.''

From another man in the audience came, ''It drives me crazy that we're all here and we care. My question -- maybe it's not for Slava, but it's for everyone else -- is what do we do? And why aren't we asking our government to do it?''

Poltavtsev fielded that question, explaining that while it's important to send a message to Russia's LGBT community that their Western counterparts stand with them, most of the effort at countering the Russian crackdown on the LGBT community is being done at the State Department and on Capitol Hill.

''We're talking to the State Department and the U.S. Congress about creating a blanket immigration program, similar to what you had for Soviet Jews in the '70s and '80s, so that they don't have to go through hardship like we do with Slava,'' he explained, pointing to simplified immigration protocols used to help Jewish émigrés flee the Soviet Union, and specifically thanking Rep. Gerry Connolly (D) for assistance in getting Revin to the U.S. ''We should put pressure on our congressmen and senators and get this immigration program in place, and that would help people like Slava.''

Added Revin, ''We can explain to the president that if the president and all the ministers from the G-8 tell Putin, 'You look like a donkey, don't do that'…. If at the next G-8 Obama talks about LGBT rights and explains, 'You look very bad.'''

[CORRECTION: As originally posted, this story incorrectly reported that Patrick Forrest, rather than Elizabeth Carlson, is representing Viacheslav Revin in his asylum request. Forrest is, however, offering pro bono representation to another asylum seeker.]